Driveway

 We're making a driveway! By we, I mean everyone but me is making a driveway. I am the photographer. Paul has got it almost all dug out. The next step, which we are all really excited about, is having a big dump truck deliver a whole bunch of gravel to put down. That will be a thrilling moment for sure! It is scheduled for Monday. Til then, "we" are all helping to dig and level.

Hopefully we'll get some good footage of the truck on Monday!

Nieces and nephews and Gramma's big day!

We had two little beautiful babies born into the Malone family last winter, and I got to spend some time with their cute little smiley faces over the last few weeks. What little sweetie pies!

Part of the reason I got to see those little sweeties was that Gramma had a big birthday this month! We had a lovely time celebrating her with breakfast at the pier, a little piano concert for me of some of her favorites from ALL the Psalms she has set to music and memorized in time for her birthday ( I repeat, my amazing mother has memorized all the psalms and music to go along with them), a plantarium show, and some delicious steak on the grill. I am so thankful for my Mom's 60 years. The more I learn about mothering, the more I am struck by the wonderful work my Mom did in guiding me through my growing up. What an inspiration and what a great friend! Love you Mom.

I look so pretty . . . in my heart! Alt. title: Hello little butterfly!

Easter egg hunt!

Visit from Mah-maw and Pee-paw

We spent the last week and a half hosting Paul's parents while the girls enjoyed some sweet grandparent time. They got their first look at our little cafe and helped us around the house. They are in between houses right now, moving to Austin (which is great!-because Paul's sister lives there too and it will make visits so much easier (second side-note, thank you to all my stateside family for all living in the same town as well. Mike, well, at least where you live is exciting and exotic, but work on that proximity thing. ; ) ) ). The girls were delighted to have so much time with them, and as is their fashion after a beloved guest leaves, are continuing to look for them in the magical guest room that is normally shut, but every so often opens to reveal that a super exciting family member or friend is sleeping inside. "Mah-maw?" Nora asks and points to the door. : ( Nora christened Vovo and Granddaddy McCall as "Mah-maw and Pee-paw" while they were here. I'm sure she will call them by their right names someday soon, but I thought this was extremely cute. My mom was "Bah-maw" for a while when Ella was learning to talk.

Here are some photos from their visit.

Ella is 3!

After naptime

 Naptime can be so lovely. But it is also wonderful to come up and find these sweet little rosy cheeked and rested ones with their bedhead and cuddly little bodies when it is over.

Last month

Well, so February was a silent month on the blog. You know that little saying, "if you don't have anything nice to say . . . "? There may have been some of that thinking involved in my lack of posts. But let me just sing one note in praise of the month of February, it is the shortest of the whole year.

I do have a couple of photos to highlight the month.

Grandma came to visit! (And arrived roughly the same time as Nora's (thankfully short-lived) stomach flu. Oh February, how you tested me!)

Here is the only other post-worthy photo of last month. Ella and I went to church just the two of us, since Nora AND Daddy were sick that weekend. I just thought I should snap her being almost 3 in her carseat, since she is there so often. Just a little glimpse of what we see quite a bit of day to day

But thankfully, March has roared in, and I am disregarding the still chilly wind and wearing a dress today. This weekend they are calling for the 70s and I am SO excited!

Snapshots

I believe I already mentioned in my last post that our life has gotten extremely crazy in the last month with Stay & Play opening up. But here are some sweet little glimpses of these beautiful girls having fun in the midst of it all.

Snow

Oyy it has been sooo crazy around here with the opening of our little cafe. But still, it's winter, it snowed one day, and we played in it. It was about 5 minutes 'til poor little hands had had enough of holding icy snow-chunks. We live in North Carolina so we just don't need mittens that often and (sheepish) don't actually have them. (We did have a pair, but at that age our little misses would not keep them on no matter what we did. They are older now so we should probably buy some. Does this sound like a plea for someone to gift us mittens? That is not what I intended.) Anyway, here are some shots of the girls enjoying our meager snow.

Happy Christmas!

 We had our first Christmas as a family at home this year! It was really nice. Some snaphots of the happy day are below. First, the quietly pleased expression on Ella's face as she first laid eyes on the presents, "Ha. It actually happened." : )

Nora wanted to celebrate the true spirit of Christmas pretty much exclusively at first. I had a very hard time getting her to come downstairs, she only wanted to read the little yellow Bible she is holding here. I finally convinced her to come if she could bring it. She kept returning to read it even in the midst of opening all the presents. She has her priorities in place people.

One of the biggest hits of the day, light-up fancy pens.

Opening these adorable ladybug and turtle riding toys sent by Aunt Donna. They do 360s!

Later that day, Grandma and Granddaddy arrived to hugs, kisses and much adoration. They brought more presents too! We had a ball, reading,

dancing,

wrestling,

and making music!

What a happy, festive day! Happy birthday Jesus! Thank you for coming to our world and giving us a reason to be so joyful!

Remember December

 It's going by in a flash, but here are a few shots to remember it by!